Page 36: of Maritime Reporter Magazine (March 2012)

36Maritime Reporter & Engineering News FEATURE SHIP REPAIR ASRY Looking toward Diversification Shaikh Daij bin Salman bin Daij Al Khalifa, Chairman of the Arab Ship- building & Repair Yard Co. (ASRY), is a man on a mission. Faced with a stagnate global shipping market, increased com- petition in the Gulf region and to a lesser degree political unrest in the region, he is on a mission to not only keep his 35- year-old ship repair yard modern and profitable, but to help build it as the cor- nerstone of Bahrain?s effort to become a global maritime and logistics center by 2030. Maritime Reporter & EngineeringNews had the opportunity to spend five minutes with Shaikh Daij on its recent visit to Bahrain. ? by Greg Trauthwein, Editor & Associate Publisher What do you count as the leading chal- lenges today in terms of Political, Legisla- tion & World Events? Of course a shipyard cannot influence or control political events, in the same way that we can?t control the weather! The same is true with the political situation,whether it be in Bahrain, the rest of theArabian Gulf, or further afield. However, with regard to legislation, we have al- ways been at the forefront of ?green? is- sues at ASRY. The yard was the first major shipyard in the Middle East to in- vest in a sludge treatment plant, and we are now investing heavily in a new sewage treatment plant, a new water de- salination plant, and expanding our ex- isting grit treatment plant. We are seeing the use of more and more hydroblasting on ships undergoing repair in the yard. How about in terms of competition. We understand there has been quite a build- up of ship repair capacity in your region? It is true that ASRY is facing increased competition, but this has always been the case since 1977 when the yard openedfor business, Today, however, this com- petition is coming from new yards in the MR March 12 # 5 (33-40):MR Template 3/6/2012 9:28 AM Page 36